Maurice E. Fitzgerald

in the Pacific War

by Edward J. Fitzgerald, April 2006

Revised May 2009, with excerpts from the wartime diary of

Quartermaster Hartford H. Holden, and recollections of

Electricians Mate Harper L. Gruber, crewmates on USS YMS 339.

2

2006 Preface

When Maurice Edward Fitzgerald ran for the Massachusetts House of Repre-

sentatives in an extremely tight election race in 1946, even a newspaper that supported

his opponent referred to him as a “Pacific war hero.” What had happened during his

Navy service as captain of a wooden minesweeper to make this an accepted fact? Mau-

rice did not talk about it much. He did tell some wartime anecdotes to a young mid-

shipman attending Brown University on a Navy scholarship in the late 1960’s, but they

were mostly self-effacing stories that did not include the combat he saw. I was that

midshipman and if I thought about it at all then, I would have thought that there would

be plenty of time later to ask my Uncle Maurice what had happened in the Pacific. But,

sadly, that was not to be. And so it is now much too late to get his personal account of

what it was really like.

Nevertheless, I decided in 2004 that perhaps it would be possible to research

and get a skeletal outline of the wartime story of the minesweeper USS YMS 339 and of

her captain and crew, starting with such sources as the original deck-logs and once

classified after-action reports, both maintained at the National Archives in Maryland.

Leads pointed to other sources, including old photos and newspaper articles kept by

my mother. My special thanks to her and to her great memory! This history is the end

result of my part-time, much enjoyed research. I have included the anecdotes Maurice

related to me as I recall them as well as some from family lore, and have given a sketch

of his life before and after the Pacific.

My thanks also to my daughter, Laura, and wife, Anne, who provided much-

needed editing advice.

If anyone reading this sees a factual error, please tell me.

With good fortune while writing the narrative, I was able to locate one of Mau-

rice’s Pacific shipmates, Stacey F. Pickup, of Denver Colorado, age 84, and his wife

Catherine. Thank you, Stacey, for your service to America and to world freedom and

peace more than 60 years ago. [2009 note: Stacey F. Pickup died January 13th, 2008, at

age 86.]

Those who knew Maurice recognized him as extraordinary. He was excep-

tionally smart, energetic, personable, perceptive, and honorable. I hope in telling

some of the story of his wartime service, I have been able to illustrate a few of his won-

derful traits. This history is dedicated to his memory.

Cover photo: Maurice Fitzgerald on the port-side bridge wing of a minesweeper at

sea in World War II; certainly not in formal Navy uniform this day, but

typical for a minesweeper underway independently in fine weather.

3

May 2009 Revision

A rainy day search in October 2008 for more photos of minesweeper USS YMS

339 included returning to “NavSource Online”, the site where the only known photo at

the time had been found in 2005. NavSource credited the undated photo, which is

shown on page 43, to a “John Holden” with no further information. A check of the Sep-

tember 1944 Master Roll of the ship’s crew, obtained earlier at the National Archives,

showed a Quartermaster Third Class, then nineteen years old, named Hartford Hale

Holden, responsible for the ship’s charts and navigation. Through his unusual name, it

was learned online that unfortunately he had died in 2002. However, I was also able to

locate and telephone his son, the photo’s source John Holden, in Houston Texas. I had

hoped he might have additional photos, and that he might like a copy of this history.

John did have more photos, that he graciously shared, but more significantly his father

had kept a diary from August 1944 to August 1945 .

Hartford H. Holden was born and raised in Lowry, Minnesota. He excelled in

studies and in athletics, especially his favorite, baseball. He graduated from Glen-

wood High School in 1942 and enlisted in the Navy starting in December 1942. He at-

tended basic training and quartermaster school before being assigned to YMS 339. He

was a “plank-holder”, assigned to the ship at her commissioning in September 1943.

He stayed in the Navy through war’s end and was promoted to Petty Officer First Class.

Hartford’s diary was hand-written, but had just recently been transcribed so

that his son John could publish it to his family. John and I readily agreed to share what

we each had. John subsequently prepared and sent out for Veterans’ Day 2008 the

“Writings of a Young Man in Harm’s Way - the Diary of Hartford Hale Holden”. John

included the verbatim diary along with annotations including some excerpts from the

2006 edition of this history.

Similarly, this May 2009 Revision includes selected Holden diary excerpts where they fit chronologically. They are in script font style (demonstrated in this paragraph) for easy identification. I am indebted to John for his generous permission to quote from his father’s diary. The diary entries, written in the casual vernacular of the time and not intended to be published, are nonetheless rich and insightful and add greatly to the story of what it was like to be on YMS 339 underway in the Pacific, of the places they saw and the combat they endured.

Newly added photos, with

black borders like this one, are also

courtesy of John Holden, from his

father’s papers.

Hartford Holden with

other members of the

enlisted general quar-

ters “bridge force”,

standing behind 339’s

main 3” gun.

4

As a result of research John did while transcribing his father’s diary, he lo-

cated another YMS 339 crewmate, Electricians Mate Harper Gruber. John’s father had

been good friends with Gunners Mate Jerry McCaffrey, during and after the war.

McCaffrey, in turn, was good friends and kept in touch with Harper Gruber. Although

McCaffrey died in 2001, his daughter had an address for Harper. Consequently, both

John and I contacted and have greatly enjoyed long distance conversations with

Harper, who has a keen memory of his war days and a willingness to share. He related

a number of anecdotes and answered numerous questions - I have included some of

what he told us where it fits chronologically in this May 2009 revision.

Harper Gruber grew up in South Carolina where he still resides. He enlisted

in the navy in June 1943, also at age 19. He attended boot camp and electrical school at

Bainbridge, Maryland. Upon graduation, he was sent to Panama, where he spent about

a year maintaining onshore electrical equipment. On August 18, 1944, Harper was as-

signed to replace YMS 339’s Electricians Mate, who had developed a back prob-

lem. (This was two days after Maurice reported to the ship.) Harper was promoted

from Electricians Mate 3rd Class to 2nd Class in October 1945, and to 1st Class before

being discharged from the service in April 1946. He is 85 in 2009, and has three

daughters.

As best we can determine, Harper Gruber is the last surviving member of USS

YMS 339’s wartime crew. My deepest appreciation go to him for the time he took to

read the original version of this history and discuss his recollections. And thank you,

Harper, for your faithful service under fire on that wooden warship.

Finally, formally incorporated in this May 2009 revision, in the Epilogue, is the

“2008 Addendum” that I earlier sent out separately to some holders of the original his-

tory. It summarizes the 2008 fortuitous rediscovery of Maurice’s daughter and her fam-

ily, including his three grandsons, who now have had the opportunity to learn more

about their grandfather; and we about them. Maurice always looked to the future, and

perhaps it is fitting that his story now ends with his grandchildren and great-

grandchildren.

5

1. A new warship 4

2. 90 day wonder 5

3. Of mines and men 6

4. Under the southern cross 7

5. To war 8

6. All glory is fleeting 9

7. Borneo 10

CONTENTS

1. A new warship 6

2. 90 day wonder 10

3. Of mines and men 14

4. Under the southern cross 17

5. Call sign: November Quebec Kilo Oscar 25

6. All glory is fleeting 39

7. The baseball beaches of Borneo 41

CONTENTS

8. Victory and peace 49

9. Three flags 52

Epilogue 54

6

1. A NEW WARSHIP

United States Ship (USS) Yard Motor Minesweeper (YMS) number 339 was built in a

wartime rush by the Seattle Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. The ship was normally

known more simply as Motor Minesweeper 339, YMS 339, or just 339 to the minesweeper men

themselves. To others in the fleet, it was also a “yard bird” a term used both in derision and in

admiration. The YMS’s were relatively small, slow wooden warships. But they always ven-

tured first into enemy coastal waters to clear the way—before the marines to the beaches in

their landing craft, before the amphibious ships with their valuable loads, and before the big

carriers and battleships into a captured gulf or harbor. “Where the fleet goes, we’ve been”

was the sweepers’ motto.

YMS 339 was commissioned into active naval service on Saturday, September 25,

1943. Commissioning is a formal ceremony in which the crew takes control of the ship from its

builders and “sets the watch” not to be relinquished at sea or in port as long as the ship is in

active service. This is not to be confused with the launching,

when a ship’s hull first floats and it is given its name. Con-

struction started when the keel was laid down on March 8th.

Launching was May 8th. So, from start to September commis-

sioning was a fast six and a half months. At the commission-

ing, Lieutenant (LT) E.A. Simpson became 339’s first captain,

in command with 3 other officers and 27 enlisted men on-

board, 2 shy of a full normal wartime complement.

The United States was in the middle of the greatest

program of warship construction by any nation ever. Built

and put into service during the war were thousands of war-

ships and transports including these notable examples: 30

fleet aircraft carriers (designated CV), 10 battleships (BB), 75

cruisers, 240 submarines, and 436 destroyers (DD). Also

built were 561 YMS’s and 231 of their larger sisters, the auxil-

iary ocean minesweepers (AM). Of the new YMS’s, 411 went

to the Navy, 128 were transferred immediately after con-

struction to Great Britain and 22 to Russia. With the war pro-

gressing well in Europe in 1944, an additional 30 YMS’s were

transferred from Navy duty to the Free French.

All the warships mentioned above were given

names, as well as designation numbers, except for the

YMS’s. Due to the rush of the war and their quantity and size,

the YMS’s had to make do with numbers only; like the patrol

torpedo boats made famous by John Kennedy’s sunk PT 109.

The YMS’s that survived the war and that were kept on active

duty beyond 1947 were named, after-the-fact, for sea birds

such as the albatross—as if to confirm officially their “yard

bird” nickname.

All the YMS’s were essentially built to the same plan,

with displacement of 320 tons; length 136 feet; beam, or

width at widest point, 24.5 feet; draft, or depth below the waterline, 6 feet 1 inch. Top speed

was 13 knots, about 15 miles per hour. Propulsion came through twin screws, each powered

by 500 horsepower diesel engines which, in the case of 339, were manufactured by General

Motors.

In addition to the new YMS’s and AM’s, the Navy bought 20 large fishing trawlers and

converted them to AM’s. These were needed while shipyards built the new minesweepers.

Also, 42 old destroyers, many from World War I, were converted into high speed ocean mine-

sweepers (DMS). Finally, 70 small coastal minesweepers (AMc) were built, 87 feet long. Al-

most all of the AMc’s stayed in US coastal waters during the war.

YMS 422 under construction—keel, frames, bulkheads, and

outer hull, all of wood.

7

The YMS’s were built to clear underwater mines as their primary job. But they had to

conduct other missions, including defending themselves, and so were armed with these weap-

ons: one 3 inch 50 caliber naval gun mounted near

the bow with a range of over seven miles (3 inch

refers to the diameter of the shell fired); two 20mm

cannons; several 50 caliber machine guns; two

depth charge racks and projectors on the stern

quarters; and a number of 30 caliber rifles. They

also had surface search radar to track ships, sonar

to find submarines, and multiple radios.

Seattle Shipbuilding and Drydock Com-

pany was among 35 yards that built the YMS’s.

These yards typically specialized in making

wooden fishing trawlers, yachts, and other types of

wooden craft, and were loosely called “yacht

yards”. This may account for the “Y” or ”yard” in

YMS. Seattle Shipbuilding, now long since out-of-

business, built 12 YMS’s, including 4 for the Brit-

ish. One YMS, not counting engines and weapon

systems purchased directly from their manufactur-

ers, typically cost $325 thousand which would be

$3.6 million in 2005 dollars.

Here is a comparison of YMS’s to some other American warship types of the day:

After the commissioning ceremony that Saturday in late September 1943, the crew not

on duty was given the rest of the weekend off, as most food supplies were not yet onboard. It

would prove to be a rare free weekend. On Monday, 339 sailed to Bremerton for final fitting

out, while various crew members went off to training schools. On October 8th, the ship took

on its first ammunition and depth charges at Indian Island, and on the 10th, a Sunday, they

Ship type Displace-

ment (tons)

Length

(feet)

Manning Main

weapons

Size of larg-

est warheads

Fleet carrier

(CV)

33,000

Essex class

888

3,500

80-100 air-

planes

1,000 lb

bombs; torpe-

does

Battleship

(BB)

52,000

Iowa class

880

2,700

Nine 16 inch

guns

2,400 lb

shells

Destroyer

(DD)

2,500

Fletcher class

376

300

Six 5 inch

guns; depth

charges

64 lb shells;

torpedoes

Submarine

(SS)

1,500

Gato class

307

70

10 reloading

torpedo tubes

600 lb war-

heads

Minesweeper

(YMS)

320

136

33

One 3 inch

gun; depth

charges

13 lb. shells;

200 lb Torpex

charges

Patrol tor-

pedo boat

(PT)

45

81

14

4 torpedoes

600 lb. war-

heads

YMS 312 on launching day. Note celebration flags, and yard

workers onboard.

8

practiced mine sweeping for the first time in Puget Sound. On the 12th, a Navy “Trial Board”

for minesweeping came onboard and 339’s crew passed the test.

The ship spent October 14th at the degaussing range. YMS’s were made of wood, but

their engines, shafts, pumps, pipes, fittings, wiring, and weapons were all metal. To present

the smallest possible magnetic signal to magnetically-activated mines, 339 had a wire de-

gaussing coil inside the hull to offset the magnetic field of its metal parts. The coil needed to

be calibrated. All warships have similar coils, and although they don’t work perfectly, they

reduce the danger from mines. Sweeper crews were often told that the use of wood in the

YMS’s, instead of steel, was a deliberate design element to lower the magnetic signature. The

serious tradeoff of lower hull strength against shells, bombs, and mines was usually not men-

tioned. But, in fact, degaussing coils could do a fair job in small ships even with a steel hull.

The Navy was trying to make virtue out of necessity: steel was needed more for larger ships

and army tanks, and there were 35 yacht yards experienced in making wooden vessels that

could produce minesweepers quickly. Plus, wood was plentiful. So the YMS’s were wood—

much of it oak and Oregon pine with keels of Douglas fir for those built on the west coast—

while the new AM’s were made of steel.

YMS 339 left her home waters of Puget Sound, never to return, on Monday November

29, 1943. The captain had orders to proceed to Panama, via a liberty stop in San Diego. As-

signed to Naval Station Coco Solo on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal Zone, near the city

of Colon, the crew conducted sweeping drills with other minesweepers, and anti-submarine

and mine patrols of the shipping lanes. The ship took on the usual provisions, which one day

included eggs, cheese, pineapple, corn, pork, bread, potatoes, a case of pickled pig’s feet, 50

pints of ice cream and over 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel. LT J. C. Sharp, who had reported in

November, 1943, before the ship left Seattle, was promoted to become 339’s second com-

manding officer in April 1944.

Sailors being sailors in a rear area with good shore liberty, there were examples of

“Captain’s Mast”, the Navy’s way of dealing with violations to regulations, such as drunken-

ness and fighting. On May 9th, a 2nd class electricians mate was restricted to the ship for 7

days, and another crew member was confined to “the brig” for 5 days. Their specific offenses

would have been listed in their service records, and are not in the ship’s deck log. There were

YMS 322 in dry-dock

9

also the usual occasional transfers of crew members, with one sailor said to be leaving with his

“bag and hammock.” But most of the crew were not transferred.

On June 12, 1944, the week after D-Day in France, 339 left Panama as one of the es-

corts for a convoy of transport ships going to Guantanamo Naval Base, in Cuba. This was a 4

day trip at 8 knots. After 2 days at “Gitmo”, they escorted another convoy back to Panama.

On July 4th, they took on ammunition to replace rounds used in drills. The ship was drilling at

sea most days now, and would moor at night in port; although some nights were spent patrol-

ling the sea lanes to the Canal. From August 6th to 9th, 339 went into dry-dock on a marine

railroad, at Mount Hope Navy Yard in Panama, for bottom cleaning and painting. This was

needed to ensure that the ship could go at full designed speed.

On Wednesday August 16, 1944, YMS 339 received onboard her third commanding

officer, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Maurice Fitzgerald. With just enough time to meet his offi-

cers and crew, inspect the ship and conduct a few exercises underway, he had orders to de-

part Panama in one week for the war on the other side of the Pacific.

Photos of YMS ship plans